Jets Snap Skid, Beat Predators, Lose Morrissey to Injury

On Tuesday evening, Connor Hellebuyck earned career win No. 300 in career game No. 538 thanks to a 26-save performance in a 5-2 victory over the visiting Nashville Predators.

“It feels good," Hellebuyck said post-game. "The anticipation was killing me a little bit. That’s not how I played it out this week, but the guys played so hard in front of me and the crowd was incredible tonight. That’s a very memorable one.”

The Jets had five different goal scorers, while 10 players picked up points, as Winnipeg finally collected its league-leading 28th win of the season, catapulting the Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals for first place, league-wide - at least for the night.

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The Jets played an horrific opening period, yet somehow left the ice with a 3-0 lead.

If it wasn't for Vezina Trophy winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, two red pieces of strategically positioned iron and two goals in a span of just 16 seconds, things would have looked - and sounded - extremely different.

Fans at Canada Life Centre serenaded their team as it made its way off the ice following 20 up-and-down minutes of play.

The Predators had the jump early, putting up five quick shots on goal, before Winnipeg even found its first of the game.

But it was Morgan Barron who jammed home a Rasmus Kupari wraparound attempt, giving Winnipeg the lead 6:30 in.

“It was just a scramble," Barron laughed. "Kupe made a really good play - obviously, a ton of patience. Then it was a scramble there, and somewhere or other it ended up in the back of the net. Those are the hard areas to go to and it worked out for us.”

Then, before fans could even find their seats, Josh Morrissey hammered home a blistering slap shot from the point, making it 2-0 just 16 seconds later.

Kyle Connor capped off the strong offensive period with a wrist shot off a perfect setup from linemate Mark Scheifele with just 1:24 left.

Despite all the goal scoring, Winnipeg lacked on the defensive side of the puck, turning pucks over more often than getting them out of the defensive zone.

The second period saw a continuation of the parade to the sin bin, as Jets defencemen took three-straight penalties dating back to Dylan Coghlan's first period high-sticking minor.

Nashville finally scored on Neal Pionk's second offence of the game. It was a Filip Forsberg wrist shot that found its way through a Logan Stanley screen and into the net, cutting the deficit to just two goals.

The bigger story of the later stages of the game was that of the injury to defenceman Josh Morrissey.

He crashed heavily into the goal and left for 10 minutes of game time to have his injury addressed. He returned for one shift, but went back to the room before the second period ended. Morrissey did not return for the third.

"We needed everyone, and they were great," Hellebuyck said of Morrissey's injury. "They were fantastic. It's never easy... going in and having to jump around between lines and linemates. You never like seeing anyone get hurt. Let's hope he has as speedy recovery and back in the next one."

With Justin Barron in the box for holding, his brother's Jets capitalized on the ensuing power play.

It was Gabe Vilardi who got his 19th of the season just nine seconds into the man advantage. Scheifele found Nikolaj Ehlers from behind the net, whose shot was redirected perfectly by Vilardi, giving Winnipeg the 4-1 lead.

But just a minute-and-a-half later Roman Josi's point shot deflected off Logan Stanley's foot and into the net past Hellebuyck, cutting the lead in half once again.

Moments later, Stanley high-sticked Jonathan Marchessault enough to cause a cut on his face, leading to Winnipeg's second four-minute, double-minor of the period.

With 1:30 left in Stanley's second penalty, Connor was assessed a hooking minor, giving the visitors an extended two-man advantage with 6:55 to play.

The trio of Adam Lowry, Dylan DeMelo and Neal Pionk managed to keep everything dangerous away from Hellebuyck, who turned aside every puck fired his way on the lengthy kill, earning a standing ovation from the crowd in downtown Winnipeg.

Nino Niederreiter picked up his 11th of the season into an empty net with just over two minutes remaining, sealing the deal on Winnipeg's first win in four attempts.

Hellebuyck finished the night with 26 stops on the 28 Predators shots he faced, while Saros turned aside 26 of the 30 pucks fired his way.

"I’ve been grateful to be part of this great organization and have had a lot of these guys around me the entire time," Hellebuyck added. "It’s been a good team the entire time I’ve been here, so I’m very grateful for everything that’s been going on around me. I know it’s not just me, it’s a whole team and a whole organization that helps.”

Next up for Winnipeg is the fourth test of the season-high, eight-game homestand. That one will be the first of a back-to-back weekend set, with Los Angeles visiting the Jets on Friday night, before the Colorado Avalanche swept into town on Saturday for Hockey Night in Canada.